Austin Rehabs Oak Park Unit

June 14, 1987

First National Realty & Development Co. is planning an October opening of a retail-office renovation in the former Marshall Field & Co. department store at 1144 Lake St. in west suburban Oak Park. First National Realty has retained the Austin Co. of Des Plaines as architect and engineer of the $1.5 million rehabilitation, which will create more than 13,000 square feet of specialty retailing and restaurants on the ground floor and about 107,000 square feet of offices on the three upper floors. Austin also will repair the building`s roof, install insulated windows, upgrade its elevators, restore its main entry, add terrazo flooring and hardwood trim to first-floor lobbies and install new heating, cooling, electrical and plumbing systems. Field opened its Oak Park unit in 1929 and closed the store last year.

WILLOWBROOK GETS DOMINICK`S A Dominick`s Finer Foods supermarket/drugstore with 70,000 square feet and a Frank`s Nursery & Crafts with 32,000 square feet are scheduled to open in May in the first, 150,000-square-foot phase of Hinsdale Lake Commons, a Vantage Cos. shopping center at Ill. Hwy. 83 and 63d Street in west suburban Willowbrook. Phase 1 opened last autumn and is 86 percent leased. A second, 50,000-square-foot phase anchored by an Elek-Tek computer store with 21,000 square feet is scheduled to open in November. Royal LePage Commercial Real Estate Services is the project`s leasing agent.

IMPELL SIGNS IN LINCOLNSHIRE

The Midwest office of Impell Corp., a consulting engineering firm to utility companies, has leased 46,000 square feet of offices in the recently completed Building 300 at the Tri-State International Office Center, a Hawthorn Realty Group project in north suburban Lincolnshire. Impell is a subsidiary of Combustion Engineering Inc., employs 350 people in its Midwest office and occupied the entire fourth floor and part of the third floor of Building 300. Grubb & Ellis represented the tenant in lease negotiations. Frain Camins & Swartchild represented Hawthorn. The four-story, 147,000-square-foot Building 300 is in the first phase of Tri-State International, a 560,000-square-foot development at Ill. Hwy. 22 and the Tri-State Tollway.

MELLON UNIT MOVES OFFICE

Mellon Financial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mellon Bank, has signed a 15-year lease for 31,000 square feet and moved its home office and commercial banking and commercial and consumer lending groups to the fourth and fifth floors of Mid America Plaza at 22d Street and Ill. Hwy. 83 in west suburban Oakbrook Terrace. Mellon relocated from Regency Towers, 1415 W. 22d Street, Oak Brook, according to Equis Corp., a Chicago real estate brokerage that represented the tenant in lease negotiations.

SIERRA BUYS CROW PROPERTIES

Sierra Capital Corp., a San Francisco-based sponsor of equity real estate investment trusts, has paid $23 million for 14 office and industrial buildings in suburban Chicago for its Sierra Capital Realty Trust VI. The properties averaged 94.3 percent occupancy and contained 942,796 net leasable square feet. Most were in the Centex Industrial Park, Elk Grove Village, with the balance in Alsip, Glenview and South Holland. The sellers of all but one of the properties were related to or affiliated with Trammell Crow Co. A Sierra spokeswoman said the deal closed late last year, before the resignations of Crow`s local partners in late January and subsequent action by the Dallas-based developer to put a temporary hold on pending deals while the Chicago dispute is resolved. Sierra VI is a $75 million issue that was to scheduled begin trading on the American Stock Exchange upon completion of the offering in April.

FIRM TAKES ZENITH SPACE

E.C.I. Co. Inc., a builder and designer of trade show exhibits, has leased 45,000 square feet in a former Zenith Electronics Corp. office-warehouse complex at 6001 W. Dickens Ave., Chicago. Excel Co., the property`s current owner, occupies most of the facility, according to Grubb & Ellis, which represented E.C.I. in the transaction. Howard Kaplan & Co. represented Excel.

COHEN FUNDS 2 INDUSTRIAL DEALS

Cohen Financial Corp. has arranged a $5.5 million construction loan and permanent first mortgage for a research and development facility occupied by the Swift Adhesives division of Reichhold Chemicals Inc. at 3100 Woodcreek Dr. in west suburban Downers Grove. A two-story, 24,870-square-foot addition will boost the building`s size to 56,000 square feet. Cohen also announced that it arranged a $1 million acquisition and construction loan for a single-story, 168,000-square-foot industrial building at 67th Street and Lavergne Avenue in southwest suburban Bedford Park. The building will be the corporate headquarters of Triple A Specialties, a manufacturer of battery chargers, booster cables and clips and an importer of mag welders from Italy. The borrowers in both financings were land trusts whose beneficiaries were not disclosed.

GRACE BUYS IN FOREST VIEW

HTO Real Estate Services Inc. has announced the sale of two industrial properties on the West Side and in the western suburbs. W.R. Grace bought a 97,000-square-foot industrial building at 6000 W. 51st St. in Forest View for an undisclosed price. The property will be used by the firm to expand its Dewey & Almy chemical division operations adjacent to the site. In another transaction, Peerless Products has purchased a 40,000-square-foot building at 5544 W. Armstrong, Chicago. The company, which manufactures lottery tickets and other gaming devices, will relocate its operations from South Clark Street. Asking price for the property was $950,000. HTO also said that Harte Hanks Direct Marketing Co. leased a 77,000-square-foot building at 11240 Melrose St. in Franklin Park.